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On the first day of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s
(ALEC) annual conference in Chicago, nearly 100 activists staged a
“die-in” at the meeting's doors to protest the powerful right-wing
policy group’s promotion of controversial Stand Your Ground gun laws.

“Stand Your Ground? I call them the ‘Shoot First Laws,’” said Carl Gibson, 26, co-founder of U.S. Uncut
and participant in Wednesday’s action. “It’s not really standing your
ground, it’s just a shoot first, ask questions later law and it enabled
George Zimmerman to get away with murdering a child.”

On
Wednesday, as members of ALEC filtered into the hotel and prepared for
the first day of the conference, roughly 80 protesters from a plethora
of local grassroots organizations, such as Stand Up! Chicago and Action Now, “died” outside of the hotel’s lobby.

“ALEC is here today to push Stand Your Ground laws all across our nation. Do we want that,” asked Shani Smith, 38, a project organizer with Stand Up! Chicago, who participated in Wednesday's demonstration. “We are here today to stand up to ALEC and let them know that we will no longer allow them to terrorize working families.”

With an unpublished membership of more than 2,000 state lawmakers and no shortage of major corporations, which has been rumored to include
AOL Inc., BP, and Koch Industries, ALEC provides a forum through which
elected officials and business executives can compose “model
legislation.”

According to protesters, the organization
favors corporations at the expense of taxpayer protections in these “model” bills and resolutions, several of which
focus on privatization, union-busting measures such as the Right To Work, and limiting the powers of federal agencies like the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).

“I think it’s disgusting that Chicago is letting
ALEC hold their conference right in the middle of the Loop,” said
Gibson. “This is the Windy City. This is a really diverse place to be,
and just the fact that ALEC is here doing what they’re doing is just an
ugly stain on this beautiful city.”

Republican Gov. Jeb
Bush enacted Florida’s Stand Your Ground law in 2005, giving individuals
the right to not retreat and use deadly force during dangerous
situations.

After the 2012 death of Trayvon Martin, an
unarmed African-American teen who was shot and killed by a half-white,
half-Hispanic neighborhood watch volunteer George
Zimmerman, the shooter did not face charges
for six weeks after the incident, claiming self-defense. He
was treated for head wounds the evening of the altercation.

"If
George Zimmerman was not engaged in an unlawful activity and was
attacked in any place where he had a right to be, he had no duty to
retreat and had the right to stand his ground and meet force with force,
including deadly force if he reasonably believed that it was necessary
to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or another or
to prevent the commission of a forcible felony,” the jury instructions
read.

“There are a
lot of nuances in the case, but the fact remains that a grown man with a
gun, stalked an unarmed teen while he was walking back to his house,”
said Gibson. “That’s the world that ALEC wants to create ... I think it’s
really offensive that we still subjugate people to societal racism, like
Stand Your Ground laws.”

“This law disproportionately affects working-class
communities of color by essentially allowing people to act out of fear,”
said Smith, who added that Stand Your Ground is inherently racist.
“Essentially, if someone has a different skin color and they look at you
the wrong way, you can act out of fear and, in the end, someone could
get shot.”

The
hearing, according to a statement from Durbin’s office, will focus on
“the way in which the laws have changed the legal definition of
self-defense; the extent to which the laws have encouraged unnecessary
shooting confrontations; and the civil rights implications when racial
profiling and 'stand your ground' laws mix, along with other issues.”

In anticipation of the hearing, Durbin has also sent letters to ALEC’s corporate supporters, questioning their position on the controversial policy.

Meanwhile,
Tainika Somerville said Florida’s Stand Your Ground law enabled
Zimmerman to use deadly force in an altercation that may not have
otherwise resulted in a fatality.

“Trayvon could have been
any one of my sons,” said the 32 year-old mother of seven boys, ages
six to 17. “Is it a crime to walk down the street with a hoodie on being
black? I believe it is in Florida. How can you stand your ground when
you’re in a car following someone?”

Somerville, a member
of Action Now and participant in Wednesday’s protest, said young African
Americans are being “bamboozled” by organizations like ALEC that
promote policies that disproportionately affect the black community.

“We
want ALEC out of our city,” she said. “They do us no justice, they’re
not for our community, they’re not for our color, and we’re begging them
to get out.”

Most of ALEC’s policies, including
privatization and anti-union proposals “go against everything our
working-class communities stand for,” said Smith.

“ALEC exists to allow corporations to influence legislation, and they do that through money,” she said. “We think that’s wrong.”

A representative from ALEC could not be reached for comment by deadline.

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News Finder

4:19pm

Wed Aug 7

"Stand Your Ground: Self-Defense or License to Kill," a must hear podcast. Recently internet radio show Center Stage hit the internet airwaves to engage in a critical discussion about the controversial "Stand Your Ground" Law and its relevance to the Trayvon Martin case and the Florida v. Zimmerman verdict. With a panel of three criminal attorneys all from Florida and a sociology professor, the host was able to engage the audience in topics that ranged from reform or repeal, the application of the law, flaws in the law, the importance of jury selection, race and the law, and a deep discussion about the Zimmerman verdict. Insightful, informative, and an incredible discussion!!! If you missed it live, you have the chance to be there now."